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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
This was a unique premise for a sci-fi book: Having a group of travelers get to a futuristic world after that world has gone back to barbarism
I liked both the human and non-human characters. They were fascinating in and of themselves. The author did a great job creating a story that hung together well and kept my interest. Some good action, some good conversations, and some good speculation and science.
I liked both the human and non-human characters. They were fascinating in and of themselves. The author did a great job creating a story that hung together well and kept my interest. Some good action, some good conversations, and some good speculation and science.
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really enjoyed this, the scientific ideas were fascinating, the aliens were unique and I adore Teela Brown and want to follow her on her adventures. Honestly, Louis Wu can go fly a kite, just give me a whole series on the “walking Improbability Drive” that is Teela. 😅 I also want to see how the group’s relationships continue to grow and mold around each other. I’ll definitely be continuing the series.
There are dry moments and of course the expected 70’s view of the sexes, but I honestly thought Wu’s attitude towards Teela was always more a self-own than an affront to Teela. My girl ain’t got time for that. She’s just putting up with your sorry ass to get to where she needs to be, grandpa.
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
One of those where revisiting after childhood isn’t especially favorable to it. And a great deal of the interesting stuff is in the sequel or other books.
The impressively imagined Ringworld certainly deserves the Hugo and Nebula awards it was given. Written in 1970 parts are a bit dated, and Niven certainly takes liberties with some of the science, but man, the concept alone deserves a higher-than-usual rating.
There is some hard science in here, and some soft. For those of you who have never read it (and I've read it at least 3 times now), this is one SciFi book that you *must* read. Even if you don't like the drama, the Ringworld itself deserves conceptualization.
There is some hard science in here, and some soft. For those of you who have never read it (and I've read it at least 3 times now), this is one SciFi book that you *must* read. Even if you don't like the drama, the Ringworld itself deserves conceptualization.
I really tried to give this one a shot, but over a quarter of the way in I just have to accept that life is too short to spend time on some books. I am going to have to lem this one.
Not only was it totally boring, but it felt a bit misogynistic.
Not only was it totally boring, but it felt a bit misogynistic.
Some will have liked this much more than I have. However, the dialog between characters was too stilted, and the characters themselves too far removed from reality, to be a compelling hard sci-fi read for me. I wanted to read this for the Ringworld concept, but I found the whole of Ringworld silly. The Ringworld construction would require more matter than was present on the combined home planets of the Ringworld engineers. I found myself dozing off during passages where Louis Wu, Nessus, and Speaker were talking in quietly logical language about their imminent danger in passing through a gigantic storm. C'mon! This is more fantasy than sci fi. You may like this, but it's not for me. I got to around 300 pages, and decided I really didn't care what happened to the characters - and that's a sad indictment of a book.
Now this is what I read science fiction for! Niven has a real knack for describing the complex in simple, concise terms; where another author might get bogged down in mundane details, he's able to keep the pace of his storytelling at a solid clip and avoids the bloating which might otherwise ensue. This is a masterpiece of the genre, bringing together plausible technological speculation; compelling extraterrestrial life forms; an intriguing, non-predictable plot; strongly-developed characters; flowing dialogue; and a rich back story which in no way obscures the primary story threads. What a joy to read! Even the tag at the end, an obvious set-up for sequels to come, is welcome, because it means that Niven plans to return to this universe, as do I. It's no wonder this won a Hugo award. Bravo!
Not that exciting. Scifi just dates so quickly, feel like I've seen all the ideas in this recycled in other things since.
Clearly a classic but on first reading it, I failed to recognise that it fit into the 'Known Space' series very neatly, a universe of which I was later to become a major fan and which kind of overlaps with Star Trek, though this is of far better quality. Fairly hard SF about a big dumb object whose scale is amazingly vast, with interplay between the species visiting it and those native to the structure itself. It's definitely a boy's story, but that's not to detract from it.